First Greater Glasgow

[SarahDFIG]

I personally think the E200EVs look a lot better without the green electric branding. Just makes the fleet look a lot smarter personally. Anyone else think the same?

 

[EMU303]

I personally think the E200EVs look a lot better without the green electric branding. Just makes the fleet look a lot smarter personally. Anyone else think the same?

Personally I find the standard First livery very dull. I wish F Glasgow would develop their own livery but appreciate vehicle swaps with other companies would add cost. But when you look at McGills, Midland Bluebird, Dundee, West Coast etc, I think their liveries are much sharper and impactful.
Some of the FG route branding colours were good too, maybe they could leverage one of them. Personally I thought the blue 77 looked very good as did the “peppermint” 38 although maybe that wouldn’t look good over time.
Maybe as the fleet gradually goes electric they should adopt a green livery. But I guess they’re just going to stick with boring corporate First livery!

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Personally I find the standard First livery very dull. I wish F Glasgow would develop their own livery but appreciate vehicle swaps with other companies would add cost. But when you look at McGills, Midland Bluebird, Dundee, West Coast etc, I think their liveries are much sharper and impactful.
Some of the FG route branding colours were good too, maybe they could leverage one of them. Personally I thought the blue 77 looked very good as did the “peppermint” 38 although maybe that wouldn’t look good over time.
Maybe as the fleet gradually goes electric they should adopt a green livery. But I guess they’re just going to stick with boring corporate First livery!

The urban livery is extremely dull. It’s probably the worst livery First have ever had. It just has no personality. I think they needed more pink in the livery rather than just white and lilac.

Glasgow having a black and Orange livery would have been really interesting. I’m still not sure what the argument was for not adopting a local livery because any buses which are transferred from Glasgow are normally going somewhere that have a local livery and they’ll get repainted anyway!

I liked the branded buses they looked very smart, indeed. Although trying to route brand buses in Glasgow just never works and we end up with the mess that we have today which is buses of all different colours appearing everywhere and anywhere. Not to mention way too many buses were branded in the beginning. I mean the full compliment of E400MMCs for the 77 were branded when most of them operate the 2 and have done since new.

 

[stevenedin]

The urban livery is extremely dull. It’s probably the worst livery First have ever had. It just has no personality. I think they needed more pink in the livery rather than just white and lilac.

Glasgow having a black and Orange livery would have been really interesting. I’m still not sure what the argument was for not adopting a local livery because any buses which are transferred from Glasgow are normally going somewhere that have a local livery and they’ll get repainted anyway!

I liked the branded buses they looked very smart, indeed. Although trying to route brand buses in Glasgow just never works and we end up with the mess that we have today which is buses of all different colours appearing everywhere and anywhere. Not to mention way too many buses were branded in the beginning. I mean the full compliment of E400MMCs for the 77 were branded when most of them operate the 2 and have done since new.

It is probably to save money with that livery being so plain. The Olympia livery was nicer.

I think it’s probably because a lot of buses get cascaded out of Glasgow to other First operations and even though they may eventually get repainted they would still be technically correct in the standard First livery at other locations, whereas if there was a Glasgow local livery, you would still have them running around other places in the Glasgow local livery until they repainted them.

Saying that, there is a bus which still has the old First Midland Bluebird livery running around Essex and that has been like that for some time.

I think rather than local liveries it would be good to get a standard livery across the whole of First which incorporates some sort of colour or pattern which links it to each local area or even the same base livery with a sticker which sort of brands it for the area would be good.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

It is probably to save money with that livery being so plain. The Olympia livery was nicer.

I think it’s probably because a lot of buses get cascaded out of Glasgow to other First operations and even though they may eventually get repainted they would still be technically correct in the standard First livery at other locations, whereas if there was a Glasgow local livery, you would still have them running around other places in the Glasgow local livery until they repainted them.

Saying that, there is a bus which still has the old First Midland Bluebird livery running around Essex and that has been like that for some time.

I think rather than local liveries it would be good to get a standard livery across the whole of First which incorporates some sort of colour or pattern which links it to each local area or even the same base livery with a sticker which sort of brands it for the area would be good.

A standard livery works best in my opinion. It doesn’t require to be repainted every time a bus transfers (which is very frequently). The barbie livery was an iconic. I even liked Olympia although it was quite fiddly.

I think First deliberately introduced local liveries to try and attract other companies to buy them out but I can’t imagine they’d let Glasgow go any time soon.

 

[ScotRail158725]

I think First deliberately introduced local liveries to try and attract other companies to buy them out but I can’t imagine they’d let Glasgow go any time soon.

The local liveries down south were to give areas more identity not so they had an easier chance to sell

 

[cnjb8]

It is probably to save money with that livery being so plain. The Olympia livery was nicer.

I think it’s probably because a lot of buses get cascaded out of Glasgow to other First operations and even though they may eventually get repainted they would still be technically correct in the standard First livery at other locations, whereas if there was a Glasgow local livery, you would still have them running around other places in the Glasgow local livery until they repainted them.

Saying that, there is a bus which still has the old First Midland Bluebird livery running around Essex and that has been like that for some time.

I think rather than local liveries it would be good to get a standard livery across the whole of First which incorporates some sort of colour or pattern which links it to each local area or even the same base livery with a sticker which sort of brands it for the area would be good.

It's been discussed on other threads about rumours of a return to a national livery with regional variation. Apparently it will be similar to the livery on Leicester's new Wright electrics

 

[stevenedin]

It's been discussed on other threads about rumours of a return to a national livery with regional variation. Apparently it will be similar to the livery on Leicester's new Wright electrics

If that is the case, it will be a good things due to the reasons mentioned already about fleet moving around.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

A standard livery works best in my opinion. It doesn’t require to be repainted every time a bus transfers (which is very frequently). The barbie livery was an iconic. I even liked Olympia although it was quite fiddly.

I think First deliberately introduced local liveries to try and attract other companies to buy them out but I can’t imagine they’d let Glasgow go any time soon.

You think wrong. As part of a move away from centrally controlled commands and giving autonomy to local managers, they were given the freedom to introduce new local liveries. Giles Fearnley was a prime mover in this. Moreover, the only company sold was FSE/Midland and they had the largely standard livery.

 

[92002]

The urban livery is extremely dull. It’s probably the worst livery First have ever had. It just has no personality. I think they needed more pink in the livery rather than just white and lilac.

Glasgow having a black and Orange livery would have been really interesting. I’m still not sure what the argument was for not adopting a local livery because any buses which are transferred from Glasgow are normally going somewhere that have a local livery and they’ll get repainted anyway!

I liked the branded buses they looked very smart, indeed. Although trying to route brand buses in Glasgow just never works and we end up with the mess that we have today which is buses of all different colours appearing everywhere and anywhere. Not to mention way too many buses were branded in the beginning. I mean the full compliment of E400MMCs for the 77 were branded when most of them operate the 2 and have done since new.

Perhaps the Glasgow local livery should be the Orange and Black one used on SPT services.

We currently have a rather garish green advertising livery. Which doesn not look very attractive.

On the other hand the latest dark blue livery is quite attractive.

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

Perhaps the Glasgow local livery should be the Orange and Black one used on SPT services.

We currently have a rather garish green advertising livery. Which doesn not look very attractive.

On the other hand the latest dark blue livery is quite attractive.

It’s makes no difference..for various reasons..

 

[roadierway77]

As reported in the McGills thread, McGills will soon be starting up their own night bus services:

McGills have registered a new Night service numbered N3 between the City Centre and Pollok

Bus registration details​

• Registration numberPM0000015/336
• Licence NumberPM0000015
• Variation number0
• StatusNew
• Service number.N3
• Service typeNormal Stopping
• Start pointCharing Cross, Glasgow
• Finish pointCircular
• ViaThornliebank & Pollock
• Date received09 Aug 2023
• Effective date25 Aug 2023
• End date
• Supported by subsidies?No
• Local authorities covered by routeStrathclyde Partnership for Transport
• TAOs covered by routeScotland

Registration history

Reg No.	Var No.	Status	Application type	Date received	Date effective	End date	Action
PM0000015/336	0	New	Manual	09/08/2023	25/08/2023

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Also N4 between the City Centre and Newton Mearns.

Bus registration details​

• Registration numberPM0000015/337
• Licence NumberPM0000015
• Variation number0
• StatusNew
• Service number.N4
• Service typeNormal Stopping
• Start pointCharing Cross, Glasgow
• Finish pointCircular
• ViaShawlands & Newton Mearns
• Date received09 Aug 2023
• Effective date25 Aug 2023
• End date
• Supported by subsidies?No
• Local authorities covered by routeStrathclyde Partnership for Transport
• TAOs covered by routeScotland

Registration history

Reg No.	Var No.	Status	Application type	Date received	Date effective	End date	Action
PM0000015/337	0	New	Manual	09/08/2023	25/08/2023

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Also N6 between the City Centre and Clydebank

Bus registration details​

• Registration numberPM0000015/338
• Licence NumberPM0000015
• Variation number0
• StatusNew
• Service number.N6
• Service typeNormal Stopping
• Start pointHope Street, Glasgow
• Finish pointCircular
• ViaBotanic Gardens & Clydebank
• Date received09 Aug 2023
• Effective date25 Aug 2023
• End date
• Supported by subsidies?No
• Local authorities covered by routeStrathclyde Partnership for Transport
• TAOs covered by routeScotland

Registration history

Reg No.	Var No.	Status	Application type	Date received	Date effective	End date	Action
PM0000015/338	0	New	Manual	09/08/2023	25/08/2023

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Also N38 between the City Centre and Paisley

Bus registration details​

• Registration numberPM0000015/339
• Licence NumberPM0000015
• Variation number0
• StatusNew
• Service number.N38
• Service typeNormal Stopping
• Start pointCharing Cross, Glasgow
• Finish pointCircular
• ViaCardonald & Paisley
• Date received09 Aug 2023
• Effective date25 Aug 2023
• End date
• Supported by subsidies?No
• Local authorities covered by route
• TAOs covered by route

Registration history

Reg No.	Var No.	Status	Application type	Date received	Date effective	End date	Action
PM0000015/339	0	New	Manual	09/08/2023	25/08/2023

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Also N60 between the City Centre and Drumchapel

Bus registration details​

• Registration numberPM0000015/340
• Licence NumberPM0000015
• Variation number0
• StatusNew
• Service number.N60
• Service typeNormal Stopping
• Start pointHope Street, Glasgow
• Finish pointCircular
• ViaMaryhill & Drumchapel
• Date received09 Aug 2023
• Effective date25 Aug 2023
• End date
• Supported by subsidies?No
• Local authorities covered by route
• TAOs covered by route

Registration history

Reg No.	Var No.	Status	Application type	Date received	Date effective	End date	Action
PM0000015/340	0	New	Manual	09/08/2023	25/08/2023

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Currently registered services include:
N3 | City to Pollok
N4 | City to Newton Mearns
N6 | City to Clydebank
N38 | City to Paisley
N60 | City to Drumchapel

This presumably means that First will be going ahead with at least some of the night bus withdrawals.

 

[Joerf21]

I think First Glasgow is in danger of a McGill's takeover.

 

[ScotRail158725]

I think first glasgow are in danger of a mcgills takeover

No they are not

 

[roadierway77]

I think First Glasgow is in danger of a McGill's takeover.

I doubt it. First would have to be in a very bad state to sell off Glasgow. They're certainly not going to sell Glasgow before Aberdeen.

 

[Scott mac]

I think First Glasgow is in danger of a McGill's takeover.

How

 

[Joerf21]

How

Just look at how mcgills is investing and taking over servived in central scotland and in the east, first glasgow havent done any service changes since simplicity and defo need new services and improvement going forward

 

[ScotRail158725]

Just look at how mcgills is investing and taking over servived in central scotland and in the east, first glasgow havent done any service changes since simplicity and defo need new services and improvement going forward

Yeah, this justification is baseless. Scotland East was a failing business under First and still is with McGills only theres been cascaded stock and route branding/names introduced. Glasgow is one of Firsts most profitable operations and they definately wont be getting rid of it anytime soon

 

[Joerf21]

Yeah, this justification is baseless. Scotland East was a failing business under First and still is with McGills only theres been cascaded stock and route branding/names introduced. Glasgow is one of Firsts most profitable operations and they definately wont be getting rid of it anytime soon

Yes on ure latter coment, thats what the problem is, they are only intersested in profitable services, thats why their is an outrage from so meny people and councils, if the dont change they could loose everything they have invested in

 

[ScotRail158725]

Yes on ure latter coment, thats what the problem is, they are only intersested in profitable services, thats why their is an outrage from so meny people and councils, if the dont change they could loose everything they have invested in

What business isn’t only interested in profitable services? Profitability is the whole point of every business. Glasgow is that and you’ve just agreed with my point on that which contradicts any reason for them to sell their Glasgow operations which you seem to be claiming is a possibility

 

[Joerf21]

Example, the one service was invested on in 2012, it was a great investment on a service that proved a succsess, it is now using buses that are now 11 years old, a investment going down the drain

 

[Volvodart]

The One would likely have got new buses by now, but for COVID and then electric buses not being suitable for the route.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

The One would likely have got new buses by now, but for COVID and then electric buses not being suitable for the route.

'the One' was rumoured to be due deckers with a re-route on the cards to avoid the low bridge. First will be thankful they didn’t once Covid hit shortly after.

I’m not sure how well the route has recovered post-Covid with a lot of people home working. I wonder if Yutongs would have the range for Dumbarton services or if even they would struggle.

 

[adrock1976]

Today in Glasgow, I saw a branded 38 (Glasgow Corp/Strathclyde) in service on the X11 that runs to Newmains, Wishaw (former KCB).

Does the garage at Cathcart Road run the X11, or is it Blantyre/Overtown, and the branded 38 happens to be on loan there?

 

[Dfatcontroller]

Today in Glasgow, I saw a branded 38 (Glasgow Corp/Strathclyde) in service on the X11 that runs to Newmains, Wishaw (former KCB).

Does the garage at Cathcart Road run the X11, or is it Blantyre/Overtown, and the branded 38 happens to be on loan there?

There were some 38 branded e400s transferred to Blantyre. Presume you saw one that hasn't seen a paintbrush yet.

 

[adrock1976]

There were some 38 branded e400s transferred to Blantyre. Presume you saw one that hasn't seen a paintbrush yet.

Many thanks.

Regarding route number branded buses appearing on other routes, I have noticed that on occasions the 38, 41, and 75 (GCT/SB) appear on the X3 (KCB), and also there have been times when those branded routes have also appeared on the 88 (also former KCB).

Being as First Glasgow is still registered as two companies on paper (No 1 = Glasgow Corp/Strathclyde, and No 2 = KCB), I would have thought that the Cathcart Road garage would do their best to make sure that the branded routes on the former GCT/SB side do not appear on the former KCB side and vice versa at all.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Many thanks.

Regarding route number branded buses appearing on other routes, I have noticed that on occasions the 38, 41, and 75 (GCT/SB) appear on the X3 (KCB), and also there have been times when those branded routes have also appeared on the 88 (also former KCB).

Being as First Glasgow is still registered as two companies on paper (No 1 = Glasgow Corp/Strathclyde, and No 2 = KCB), I would have thought that the Cathcart Road garage would do their best to make sure that the branded routes on the former GCT/SB side do not appear on the former KCB side and vice versa at all.

First Glasgow are in the process of de-branding their buses.

A lot of branded buses have moved depots since the arrival of the EVs. There are some 38 branded E400MMCs at Blantyre and Scotstoun now.

The E400MMCs which are branded for the 38 and 75 regularly operate on ex-Cumbernauld depot routes and will be de-branded in due course.

 

[92002]

'the One' was rumoured to be due deckers with a re-route on the cards to avoid the low bridge. First will be thankful they didn’t once Covid hit shortly after.

I’m not sure how well the route has recovered post-Covid with a lot of people home working. I wonder if Yutongs would have the range for Dumbarton services or if even they would struggle.

Believe the low bridge is no longer there.

The latest E200ev seem to regularly last for around 12:hours these Days. Most of which is working with minimum layovers.

Will be interesting to see how new version E400evs perform when and if they arrive.

Was on a E400ev that expired after only a couple of hours work today.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Believe the low bridge is no longer there.

The latest E200ev seem to regularly last for around 12:hours these Days. Most of which is working with minimum layovers.

Will be interesting to see how new version E400evs perform when and if they arrive.

Was on a E400ev that expired after only a couple of hours work today.

The E200EVs being delivered to Scotstoun seem to be lasting a lot longer than I had expected. Some have even made it on to the 6 which I didn’t think would be a possibility. Their range still remains inferior to the Yutongs which are getting drastically more miles but have the latest EVs got a better range than say the 71/72 examples?

I’m hoping the new generation E400EVs are a vast improvement and they push some of our current E400EVs out to other areas that are more suited to their range.

 

[92002]

The E200EVs being delivered to Scotstoun seem to be lasting a lot longer than I had expected. Some have even made it on to the 6 which I didn’t think would be a possibility. Their range still remains inferior to the Yutongs which are getting drastically more miles but have the latest EVs got a better range than say the 71/72 examples?

I’m hoping the new generation E400EVs are a vast improvement and they push some of our current E400EVs out to other areas that are more suited to their range.

There still is a low bridge in Clydebank which can be avoided on the 1 route. The one in Alexandria is no longer there. Double decks would mean more passengers on less vehicles and drivers.